Retailers routinely transport products within product distribution facilities using conveyor systems. For example, products and/or packages are routinely transported from a product packaging or sorting area via conveyors to a product loading area (e.g., into a delivery vehicle). It is not uncommon for products traveling on such conveyors and destined for delivery to a consumer to be damaged, for example, as a result of some manipulation by a worker at the product distribution facility, or as a result of being defective, or as a result of not being maintained at its proper storage/transportation temperature. If such anomalies in the products are not detected prior to such defective and/or damaged products being loaded into delivery vehicles and delivered to consumers, the consumers not only become unhappy with the retailer and may not order from the retailer again, but also return the defective and/or damaged products back to the retailer, thereby increasing the retailer's cost and reducing the retailer's profits.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.